Fans will have to wait a few months for new episodes of Paramount Network’s hit television drama, “Yellowstone.”
Paramount Network aired the mid-season finale from the fifth season of the show on Sunday, January 1, with a promise that the show will return in the Summer of 2023.
The show, which debuted in 2018, typically airs in the summer months, with the first three seasons of Yellowstone running on Paramount Network between late June and early August. The fourth season, which aired last year, was the first to run on Paramount Network during the winter, with 10 episodes scheduled between mid-November and early January.
For season 5, Paramount Network expanded its order to 14 episodes of Yellowstone. The first seven episodes — which ran over an hour long with commercials — began airing on November 13, 2022, with the final episode of the split season airing on Sunday.
Editor’s note: The rest of this article contains spoilers about season five — click or tap here to skip them.
The fifth season sees the Dutton family split between loyalties, with John Dutton (Kevin Costner) sworn in as governor of Montana — a job he did not want, but reluctantly took amid threats to the future of his beloved Yellowstone Ranch. Dutton makes it clear that his priority as governor is to be the anti-politician who keeps his campaign promise of siding against any progress and change in the state.
Dutton learns early on that being a politician is no easy task, especially when you don’t want the job: In the first episode, he holds a first meeting with his cabinet of advisors, and unceremoniously fires them all. He learns the hard way that going alone is excruciatingly difficult, and he ultimately commutes the sentence of Summer Higgons (Piper Perabo), an activist who was jailed in the prior season. Higgons stays at the Yellowstone ranch under a period of house arrest, where she serves as Governor Dutton’s “environmental advisor.”
At one point, a plague threatens the herd of cattle kept and raised at the Dutton ranch. Governor Dutton and his crew scramble to lease new land for the cattle to graze, eventually settling on the 6666 (“four-sixes”) ranch in Texas, where former ranch hand Jimmy Hurdstram (Jefferson White) is — not coincidentally — staying with his fianceé.
Meanwhile, Kayce Dutton (Luke Grimes) is having second thoughts about being an officer with the Montana Livestock Association, particularly after his young son, John, died shortly after being born. He turns in his badge, only for Governor Dutton to suggest he remain on the state’s payroll while he figures out what he wants to do long-term. A conversation between Governor Dutton and Kayce’s wife, Monica (Kelsey Asbille), ultimately encourages him to look after the Yellowstone ranch while the governor is in Helena and some of his top ranch hands are in Texas.
While Governor Dutton tries to balance life between the ranch and his duties in Helena, his son, Jamie (Wes Bentley) is hard at work in the attorney general’s office. After being seduced by Sarah Atwood (Dawn Oliveri), a lawyer with Market Equities, Jaime is convinced to have Governor Dutton impeached for canceling a land lease project that would have seen a large airport developed near the Yellowstone ranch. A press conference with Governor Dutton and Broken Rock Chief Thomas Rainwater ( Gil Birmingham) goes off the rails after Jaime introduces articles of impeachment during a legislative meeting in Helena.
The mid-season cliffhanger undoubtedly has Yellowstone fans waiting with anticipation for any news as to when the new season of Yellowstone will return. While Paramount Network has not officially announced a return date, based on the show’s historical airings, fans can expect to see Season 5 of Yellowstone return around June or July 2023.
In the meantime, fans can catch up with the fifth season of Yellowstone by subscribing to Philo, which offers Paramount Network’s live feed and on-demand library of content, starting at $25 a month. For an extended free trial of Philo, click or tap here.
Seasons 1 through 4 of Yellowstone are exclusive to Peacock in the United States and Paramount Plus in other countries.
